I'm still completely against the Vogelsong signing, would rather see our young arms get that 5th rotation spot. He has no upside. Rasmus signing is also peculiar, but I can certainly see why we would add him. For one he is a guy who has demonstrated near all-star potential in 2 of his seasons, so he could be an undervalued guy with potential high rewards. Secondly he gives us some actual outfield defense, and a guy that can handle CF everyday if Marsnick gets hurt. Even if not Marisnick, somebody is gonna get hurt or struggle, it is inevitable, so there will be PA available. They probably use lefty/righty platoons until said injury occurs.
I totally agree on the pitching. For us to be ready to take the next step and start competing for the playoffs in 2016 we need Keuchel and McHugh to replicate what they did in 2014. I totally disagree on the the offense. Any Altuve loss will be more than offset by Springer and Singleton improvements. Also, we have depth and options now. If Singleton still sucks after 2 months then Gattis is your 1B and Grossman/Marisnick gets more playing time.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Colby Rasmus' deal with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> will be worth more than $4 million, source says.</p>— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/557640919345020928">January 20, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Rasmus has proven he can be worth similar value (if not more) to Fowler at potentially half the price. Great deal.
Not bad if it's just above $4m , he was reportedly seeking $7 m 1 yr deal. Now other moves have to happen to make room and resolve the catcher glut.
Altuve Lowrie Springer Carter Rasmus Gattis Valbuena Castro Singleton Still don't think we are done but this looks pretttay good.
There won't be a set line-up. It will be like the A's where it is all based on match-ups. I think we are done on the offensive side, other than trading Corporan and one of our back-up OF.
LOVE that Rasmus' deal is just a one-year. Gives him all the motivation in the world to prove he's an all-star caliber player.
Im not ignoring anything...doesnt matter how much you slug or what your OPS is if you arent scoring runs. At the end of the day, when you're lineup is doing its best to lead the league in strike outs, you are going to leave way too many runners on the bases. Is this team really going to score 100 more runs than last year to become a top 5 offense? Of course not...and no numbers show anything remotely close to that. If this team can cut the K's by 15%, then we can start talking. We will improve, but not to the point where teams will fear our offense.
Why doesn't anyone think that castro AND Corporan are gonna be traded? I mean think about with all these recent moves we could easily plug in Gattis and have Conger or Stassi back him up regularly. I really believe that castro is the next to go, hopefully packaged with some prospects for an established pitcher. That way we can play everyone that should play C-Gattis 1B-Singleton 2B-Altuve 3B-Valbeuna/Dominguez SS-Lowrie LF/CF/RF-Springer/Rasmus/Marisnick DH-Carter Now everyone plays and no issues left. That is a competitive team.
You obviously just hate strikeouts and can't look past that. There are two reasons that we are going to leave a ton of guys on base: 1. We will lead baseball in strikeouts 2. We will have one of if not the hightest OBP in baseball The high slugging offsets the strikeouts and allows for more big innings and crooked numbers. I totally understand people being frustrated with this philosophy because it can be hard to watch. But the numbers lead to more runs, which leads to more wins. Get used to it. Nerds are running the show now. Also, strikeouts are not always bad. Look at the research about avoiding double plays.
Clearly Castro is on the block. Luhnow isn't going to let him go very easily though. He will probably be dealt in July if not this off season.
Nope. Gattis' catching days are pretty much over due to knee and back problems. They'll use him as an emergency 3rd catcher, luhnow already say he'll be used in LF DH or 1b.
I wonder why Rasmus trended downward last year for defensive WAR? He mostly improved year to year until last year. Does he have a good enough arm to play right field and move Springer to center? Seems to make sense...
